Tube-mill.



UNITED ,s'ra'gns PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES? SPAULDING, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,TO ALLIS-CHALMERg MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

TUBE-MILL.

Toau v'w/tom 26 may concern:

- during which time the plates containing the Be it known that 1,CHARLES F. SPAUL- omc,acitizen of the United States, residing at Denver,in the count of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented a certainnew and useful Improvement in TubeMills, of which-the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of tubemills, and relatesparticularly to tube mills adapted to be used for aplurality of purposes and for grinding various amounts and grades ofmateria -o Anfobject oft-he invention is to provide a tube mill having aplurality of chambers one Tor more of which are adapted to penformaarinding function, as in the ordinary tube mfihwhile the remainingchamber or chambers are adapted to be used as ore amalgamatingor pulpthickening chambers, or merely asia dead end of the mill.

Another object is to .rovide a means for adjusting. the lje'ngth'o thechambers, thus avoidinglexcessif fe'wear on the linings of thegrindingcham'ber'at the discharge end thereof, which vexcessive' v'vearresults from improper proportioning of the length of the mill to suitthe character'of the material being grounder from an improper amount ofmaterial being passed through the mill.

Still another objec't'is to rovide a mill in which ore may be groun inthe initial chamber, of the mill, being passed on directly to anamalgamating chamber formed adjacent'to the grinding chamber, the 'operations of grindin land 'amalgamating being performed in thesame mill;This latter object would make the mill especially adapted to be us'edin'the milling of gold ores with the following advantageous results: Thestamp mills now universally in use could be replaced by rolls for coarsecrushing followed by a tube mill for fine grinding, thus reducing-thecost of installation; the final grinding obtained would be better, thatis to say, the substance would be ground finer, thus permitting betterextraction of the values contained in thcore; the capacity of theinstallation would be increased, since tlu? rolls and tube mill would beidle only a short time while removing the valuab es,

auialgamare being replaced by fresh p tes, whereas with a stamp mill theentire mill must be shut down while the amalgam is being removed fromthe amalgam retai' surfaces; and, the dangers of-"'ilferin wasting of.the amalgam wou d"be-"avo'ided Specification at Letters remit t t h 3, i

by having the amalgam and oi'e-thorou'ghly mixed in a closed receptacle.

the invention can be'ob'ta'ined'by'r'efer to the accompanyingdrawihgih'Whi'dhlike A clear conception of" one embodiment"o f- Figure1' is a fragmentary,pant sectional view ofa tube'millhavingan amalan'ia'ting chamber formed in one end thereb Big. is a transversevertical section of the device shown in F1 1, the section'bfingftaken onthe line II I- of F ig, 1" looking in. the d i'-.

re'ction of the arrows. Fig. 3.is a viev'v'similar to that shown in Fig.2, showing-a'rnodification of the arrangement. of the copper' The tubemill consistsessentially of of plates in the amalgamatingchamber;

tubular metal shell 1 havin end heads'31:

formed in either nd theifeo The interior of the shell 1 is ii lining orwearing. plat68\6 whic any desirable construction and'which are generallremovably attached tbltheshell 1. ie en spection or for the removal ofworking ele ments therefrom.

The driving gear 2 is fastened to the end head 31 at the'feed end of themill and heads 31' ma also be'lined with'f latesv made of suitab ewearing material;

serves to rotate the mill during grinding. The feed trunnion 4 ismountedin a spheri cal bearin above. the support 5 and is fastened t'ov tiefeed end head 31; The feed 5000 or pump 3 is fastened to the outer overanging end of the feed trunnion 4.

along the length of the mill and divides:

the mill into two chambers .There ma be a number of these artitions 9,depcndin upon the number of chambers desired and thedpui ose for whichthe chamber is to be use ing in slots or grooves 21' formed between hebolts 30 have their heads coactadjacent ends of the plates 6 and projectradially inward toward the center of the shell 1, passing through thecylindrical projecting Ilange formed on the outer edge of the. partition9. The partition 9 can therefore be moved to any position along the millby loosening the nuts at the ends of the bolts 30 and removing thecalking or filling strips which normally till the grooves 21. Thegrinding chamber side of the partition 9 is protected by hard iron orother wearing material plates 8. The discharge screen 7 is fastened tothe partition 9 over the discharge opening formed through the center ofthe partition 9, and coacts against the inner ends of the plates 8.

As shown, the interior of the portion of the shell l surrounding theamalgamating chamber at the discharge end of the tube mill is also linedby plates 6, the ends of which are spaced apart by slots or grooves 21.The battle plate 13, which may be made of copper or similar amalgamretaining material, is spaced from the partition 9 by spacers 10. Thebolts 11 which pass through the plate 1.3, spacers 10, partition 9, andflange of: the screen 7 serve to keep these elements in coaction. Thecopper or amalgam retaining plates 14, see Figs. 1 and 2, are mountedon, but are spaced from the interior surface of the amalgamatingchamber. These plates 14 are mounted on brackets 25 by means of bolts 17or similar means permitting easy removal of the plates 14 from theu'ackets 25. "The brackets 25 are adjustably mounted on the liner plates6 by means of bolts 19 which coact in the slots or grooves 21 formedbetween the adjacent ends of the plates 6. By loosening the nuts at theinwardly projecting ends of the bolts 19, the brackets 25 can be shiftedto any desirable position along the mill.

The discharge trunnion 15 could also be provided with a discharge screen7 such as is shown applied to the partition 9, but this is notessential. Drain plugs 20, one or more for each chamber of the mill,form a means for pcrn'iitting the withdrawal of the liquid which duringnormal operation of the mill fills both the grinding and amalga' matingchambers to a level approximately at the central of the shell 1.

In the modification, see Fig. 3, the copper or amalgam retaining plates22, instead of being approximately parallel to the plates (1', aremounted perpendicular thereto, be

' ing radial to the shell 1. The brackets 23 are mounted in the grooves21 formed between adjacent plates 6 by means of bolts 2i, and areadjustable along the length of the mill. The plates 22 are againremovably mounted in the brackets 23 to permit their easy withdrawalfrom the mill.

During the operation of the mill for millin'g gold ores, the ore afterhaving been re inscg is duced Ln a stamp mill or rolls to a finenessdesirable for tube nulls, is admitted by means oi the pump through thefeed trun nion i to the grinding chamber at the feed end of the mill.The rotation of the mill by means of the gear 2, causes the ore withinthe mill to be continually intermiked with and reduced by the pebbles inthe grinding chamber until the finely ground ore is eventuallydischarged from the grinding chamber through the screen 7 to theamalgamating chamber. Upon passing into the amalgamating chamber, thecourse of the material is deflected by the balile plate 13, which platecauses the entering crushed ore to travel toward the amalgam retainingplates 14 at the periphery of the amalgamating chamber. Mercury, whichprevious to starting has been admitted to the anialgamating chamber bymeans of a long spoon or similar .means extended into the dischargeH1111 nion i5, fills the lower portion of the amalgamating chamber. Thegold'bearing, finely crushed ore upon being deflected by the plate 13into the path of the constantly agitated and flowing mercury, is mixedtherewith and has its gold withdrawn, due to the aliinity of the mercurfor the gold. The combination of gold an mercury then strikes the platesLl which are made of copper or other amalgam retaining material, and isdeposited on the surfaces thereof in layers. From time to time the millis stopped and the plates it removed through the manholes 18, thestoppage of the mill being only for such a length of time as will permitthe removal of the amalgam coated and insertion oi a new set of plates14. it the balile plate 13 is also used as an amalgam retaining means,it should be made sectional or of a sufficiently small size to permitits removal through a manhole 18. The plates l3, 14, after removal. fromthe mill are scraped, the valuables being thus removed therefrom, afterwhich they are again ready for insertion in the mill. The residual orrefuse remaining after the gold has been extracted from the ore, is c.'e.ntualiy dis charged through the dischargetrunnion 15.

It may be here noted that the action the plates 1;: of the modification,upon the ground ore, scel ig. 3, would be slightly dill'ercnt from thatof the plates 14. The plates 22, due to their radial positioning, wouldtend to carry the mercury above the center oi the mill in the direction.of rotation of the mill, from which position the mercury would hedropped or precipitated across the center of the amalgamating chambcr,thus possibly producing a more etlicient mixing of the mercury with thegold containing ore.

If for any reason it is iound desirable to either shorten or lengthenthe grinding chamber the partition 9 can be easily shiftrious reasons.It may be desirable to change the tonnage or capacity of the mill, thusrequiring a change in length of grinding chamber. It may also bedesirable to operate the mill on a different grade of ore, thus givinanother possible cause for the shifting 0 the partition 9. Then again itmay be desirable to introduce more amalgam retainingsurface or longerplates 14, giving sill another possible cause for shiftin the partition9. These are only a few 0 the more important reasons why a shifting ofthe partition 9 might be desired and many minor reasons will appear toone skilled in the art. The lengthening of the plates 14 would requirethe lengthening of the dis tance between the brackets 25, therefore re-?uiring the adjustability of these brackets. t is, however, notnecessary to have this adjustment of the partition 9 and brackets 25,performed in the manner herein shown and described, as a simpler methodof attaining the same results could be devised. The amalgam retainingplates 14 could, moreover, be used direct as a lining for theamalgamating chamber instead of having them exposed on all sides, andmight also be placed projecting at an angle which is intermediate theradial and circumferential positions as disclosed.

Stamp mills which are now in universal use for the purpose of millinggold ore, do not reduce the ore to a desirable degree of fineness priorto the amalgamation. The mills are, moreover, expensive and the floorspace occupied by such an installation is very great. In applying thepresent invention for milling gold ores, the rough grinding can be donewith a set of rolls, while the finer rinding is done in the tube millgrinding ciamber. Such an installation would give much better grindingof the ore prior to amalgamation and would decrease the cost and thefloor space occupied by the mill for the same or even a larger sizedinstallzv tion. The advantages obtained by having the amalgam in aninclosed chamber. are also numerous, this feature tending to preventpilfering and wasteof the mercury, as well as permitting a better andlonger contact of the amalgam with the retaining plates 14- than is atpresent obtainable with the ordinary apron plates of the stamp mills.

It should be understood that it is not desired to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described, for obviousmodifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

It is claimed and desired to secure by Letters Patent,-'

v 1. In a tube mill, a shell, trunnions on said shell, means forrotating said shell, a partition in said shell dividing same into aplurality of chambers, means of communication from one of said chambersto another, and means for adjusting the partition to change the lengthsof said chambers.

2. In a tube mill, a shell, end heads coacting with said shell to forman inclosed receptacle, a partition mounted within said shell anddividing the same into a plurality of chambers, one of said chambersbeing a tube mill chamber for pebbles, means of communication from oneof said chambers to another, and a copper plate mounted within anotherof said chambers which is free of pebbles.

3. In a tube mill, an inclosed shell, means for feeding ore to saidshell, an outlet for discharging ore from said shell, said shell beingdivided into a plurality of chambers intermediate said feeding means andsaid outlet, one of said chambers constituting a tube mill grindingchamber, and another of said chambers constituting an amalgamatingchamber, a removable copper plate mounted in said amalgamating chamberand spaced from the walls thereof, and restricted central means ofcommunication from one of said chambers to another.

4. In a tube mill, a shell, end heads coacting with said shell to forman inclosed receptacle, a partition in said shell dividing the same intoa plurality of chambers, means of communication from one of saidchambers to another, and means for adjusting said partition to changethe lengths of said chambers.

5. In a tube mill, a shell, end heads coacting with said shell to forman inclosed receptacle, a partitionin said shell dividing the same intoa plurality of chambers, constricted central means of communication fromone of said chambers to another through said partition, and means foradjusting said partition to change the relative lengths of saidchambers.

In testimony whereof, I ailix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES I SPAULDI NG.

Witnesses:

CHAS. SnnnmnN, Emma E. ltonnn'rs.

